


Iloveyoubye

by Zig_Zag_F1



Category: Formula 1 RPF
Genre: Awkward Lando, Awkward Romance, Coronavirus Quarantine, Crushes, Cute, Fluff, Freudian Slip, Long-Distance Friendship, M/M, No Smut, Phone Calls & Telephones, Swearing, Video & Computer Games
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-01
Updated: 2020-05-01
Packaged: 2021-02-26 18:21:17
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,408
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23742040
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Zig_Zag_F1/pseuds/Zig_Zag_F1
Summary: When he has both feet on the floor again and has rubbed his aching knees, seriously, it's like he is getting fucking old now, he straightens up, grabs his phone, and freezes.Did he just tell Max Verstappen "I love you bye????"Jesus Christ.
Relationships: Lando Norris/Max Verstappen
Comments: 17
Kudos: 127
Collections: F1 Fandom Unity Exchange





	Iloveyoubye

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Anna_banana](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Anna_banana/gifts).

> Hi Anna! So, I really hope you like this, even though it's not Romain and Kevin. I really tried to come up with something for that pairing but everything I tried kept failing, so I ended up with this, which is mainly Lando being an awkward bean, so I hope that's okay. 
> 
> I hope this helps brighten up your gloomy F1-less days at least a little bit.

Lando feels like he rarely ever _isn't _streaming these days. He's taking a much needed break from being viewed by people he doesn't know, eating some (admittedly unapproved) snacks, scrolling through instagram, stretching his legs, and trying to clear his mind ineffectually when Max calls. 

He taps the answer button almost instantly. "Hey mate, what's up?"

"Hey, nothing much. You're not streaming so I figured I'd call and ask if you wanted to chill on iracing for a bit, just you and me, no audience, for a change."

"Oho, mate, you know I love the attention," Lando jokes, opening the fridge and putting away his leftovers. _Hmm, still hungry...maybe just grab an apple? _

_There's also that crap in the fridge with the quinoa in it, but...seriously, no, it's a pandemic, I would rather not eat that shit right now...comfort food, that's what I want, something with way too many calories and an unknown number of sugars...yeah...pastries..._

_"_You there, mate??" Max asks. "I know you love the attention, but you aren't paying much attention to me right now."

"Oh sorry, trying to make some food and I can't decide what to eat, you know? I was snacking and Jon made me this quinoa salad or some shit and I don't fucking want to eat that, so, yeah, I got problems mate," Lando replies quickly, pausing in his food quest to explain himself. _Slow down, Lando, don't want be rude or anything. _

Max snorts and then chuckles. "Throw that shit out, mate, Jon doesn't need to know. Tell him he's not cooking for vegan Lewis, fuck's sake."

Lando huffs out a laugh. "Fuck that, I'm sorry, but this diet is already enough of a headache without making it worse. No idea how Lewis does it."

Max just snorts again. "Don't you have plenty of food in your fridge, mate? Just find something and eat really quick, I'm already online."

"Don't rush me," Lando scolds, opening the pantry and rolling his eyes at the contents, _and also at Max, but he can't see, so there's no point. Hmm...maybe some of that fruit bowl Jon left here? Yeah, that would work...and some yogurt, and maybe a little granola on top, okay, no, the granola ran out yesterday, so skip that..._

"Whatever mate, just let me know if you are going to join anytime soon, yeah?"

Lando jolts himself back to the call. "Yeah, yeah, of course I will, but I'm going to eat something first, so it'll be a few minutes, okay?"

"Okay, I'll just sit out this race then, if you won't be long."

Lando opens the fridge again and takes out the fruit bowl in one hand and the yogurt in the other, holding his phone between his cheek and his shoulder. "Yeah, not long, not long...just a sec..." He grabs a bowl and puts yogurt into it, dumps fruit on top, _okay, granola....oh right, granola's gone. Or is it? Actually I thought we bought some? Maybe in the top of the cupboard...? _ He tries to reach, but of course, as always, he's too short. "Fucking genes, always letting me down."

Max laughs on the other end of the phone call. "Can't reach something?"

"Stupid top shelf of the cabinet," Lando sighs, attempting one last doomed reach before giving up. "I'll just have to climb up."

"Um, okay...be careful mate," Max says, and he sounds a little concerned. 

"It's fine, I've done it...a hundred...times," Lando grunts, pulling himself onto the counter, where he gets up on his knees and reaches the shelf easily. "Aha, got it." He wobbles a bit, steadies himself, wobbles again..."Wooo...ooop...ooop..." He grabs the granola and puts it on the counter before swiveling a bit to climb down.

"Lando, seriously? Don't you need both hands right now?"

"I...op, no, it's fine, I just..." and Lando knocks over the peanut butter jar..."I've got it, it'll be fine, just a minute..."

"No, I'll call you back," Max says firmly. "You don't have enough coordination to talk on the phone and climb on things."

"Fuck you mate," Lando shoots back, catching hold of the shelf and balancing himself. _Oof, my knees do not like being on this countertop. _"I can drive an F1 car just like you, Verstappen."

"Not just like me, but yes, I know," Max says smugly. "But seriously, I am not calling 999 for you when you fall off the counter trying to reach your stupid granola, so call me when you're done being ridiculous."

Lando starts to give a cheeky reply, but his knee slips off the counter and the phone starts to slip from it's place between his shoulder and face, so what comes out is a hurried, "No...ooop! Okay, ahhaha, ooop...um, fine, loveyoubye!" and he catches the phone as it falls, ending the call and setting it down on the counter so he can get down properly. 

When he has both feet on the floor again and has rubbed his aching knees, _seriously, it's like I'm getting fucking old now, _he straightens up, grabs his phone, and freezes.

_Did I just tell Max Verstappen "I love you bye????" _

_Jesus Christ. _

_I really am a total idiot._

Hands shaking, Lando unlocks his phone, but there's no message from Max. _Maybe he didn't hear? _

_Fucking hell._

Slowly Lando pours granola over his fruit and yogurt and puts away everything in the refrigerator, _oh shit, the granola doesn't go in there, _pulls out the granola and puts it on the lower shelf where he can reach it, grabs as spoon, and eats his food blankly, barely tasting it. _Could've just eaten the fucking quinoa, would've saved me the whole mess I just put myself into. That's why Jon is always right, but oh no, I had to get preoccupied and tell fucking Max that I love him like an absolute dipshit._

He only notices the food is gone when the spoon knocks against the sides of the glass bowl.

Sighing heavily, he puts the dishes in the sink and checks his phone again, but Max still hasn't sent him any messages, mocking or otherwise, so he drags himself to his sim and sits down heavily, bumping the mouse and waking up his computer. His discord chat with Max is on screen, but there aren't any new messages there either. 

_Fuck...maybe I weirded him out too much._

Slowly, Lando drops his hands to the keys and types out, _hey, are you around?_

Max's typing bubbles appear, but he doesn't send a message. Instead, the cell phone in Lando's hand begins to vibrate. He gulps. 

_ **Incoming call from Max Verstappen.** _

_Shit. _

He accepts the call. "Hi."

"Um, hi," Max says, uncharacteristically tentative, and then, "did you just fucking say "I love you bye?""

Lando wants to die inside. "Maybe..." He groans, dragging it out into a low wail. "I didn't mean to!"

"So you're talking to me now to tell me you _don't_ love me?" Max sounds amused.

"What? Fuck, I can't win," Lando whines, dropping his head to his keyboard and inadvertently opening several new tabs. 

"We're talking about racing now?" Max prods, and Lando _knows _he's being deliberately thick. 

"No, I mean, it was an accident, and now you'll never let me live it down."

"Probably not," Max agrees amicably, "but are you suuuuure you didn't mean it? Freudian slip or something like that?"

"Fuck off Max," Lando answers, even though he's aware of the change in tone between his earlier call with Max and this one. "What, do you want me to tell you I love you?"

"You already did," Max points out, and Lando swears he can hear him chortling to himself, "and anyway, I think _you_ want _me_ to tell _you_ that_ I_ love you."

"A whata-whata-what?" Lando stutters, aware that he's on thin ice at the moment, but not about to admit anything. "It was just an accident, Max."

"Mmm," Max says, and he almost sounds..._disappointed? Let down?_

_What a mess. _

"I mean, I..." Lando doesn't know where he was going with that sentence, so he drops it and it sits between them in the silence on the call.

"It's okay, Lando," Max says after the pause lasts a few seconds. "Friends love each other, right?"

Relieved, Lando grasps onto the line Max is throwing him. "Right!" He agrees, a bit too quickly, a bit too enthusiastic, but _what else can I do, I'm already about to scare him off. _

"Of course," Max says brightly, obvious in his attempts to play at normality again.

Lando goes with it a bit too eagerly as well. "Yeah! I mean, fuck's sake, Charles always greets Pierre with a kiss, so I can definitely say I love you." _Fuck, where did that come from??_

There's a brief pause, and then Max says, "Yeah, how come you don't greet me like that? I think you're letting me down."

Lando almost jumps in surprise at the words, and there's another pause as he scrambles to figure out if Max is joking or what. "Well, why didn't you say something? If you want your friends to greet you with a kiss even if they're not French, you have to say something!"

Max laughs, and _it sounds nice_. "Well, now I am!" 

Lando sucks in a breath, he's _really _not sure where this is going or what the hell is happening, but he's not about to shy away from it. "Okay, fine, then next time I see you, when the races are back on, you better be prepared because I'm going to give you a kiss on each cheek like Charles does to Pierre and there's nothing you can do about it."

"Fine," Max says, and he sounds a little breathless, and Lando still feels like he must be in an alternate universe, because _Max isn't going to argue about it? Was he serious?_

_Did I fall off the counter and hit my head? _

"Fine," Lando shoots back, failing to come up with anything better. 

"Just be aware that I'll kiss you back," Max says, and now it's Lando who's struggling not to sound breathless. 

"Okay," he says, as calmly as he can. He feels warm all over, and his voice wants to move to a higher pitch, so he's careful to keep it in check. "What will people say, do you think?"

"Doesn't matter, we'll just tell them all we're copying Pierre and Charles," Max answers casually.

"Aren't we?" Lando asks slowly, and in his urge to keep his voice from being high pitched, it comes out lower than usual instead, and _damn, I almost sounded husky, wow. _

There's silence on the line.

Lando can hear Max's breathing; it's a little faster than normal. _I bet he can hear mine too, and I feel like I can barely breathe. _

"Of course," says Max eventually, but it sounds forced. 

"Oh yeah?" 

"Of course," Max starts to say again, but at the same time Lando says, "Unless you..." and they both stop, and they both start again, and they both stop themselves again.

"You go first," Max says quickly. 

"Um, I was just saying, you know, unless you didn't want to do it, you know, only to copy them," Lando mumbles out, sure that by now Max can hear not only his breathing but also his heartbeat.

"Well, I mean it does..." 

"Does what?" Lando prompts immediately.

"...does seem like it might be...you know..._kind of nice_," Max chokes out.

Before he can think better of it, Lando asks, "Kind of nice in general? Or you know...kind of nice to do..._with me_?" _Jesus Christ, I'm going to suffocate or die of heart failure._

Max makes a garbled noise, like he can't quite make words come out, and then, seemingly with some effort, he manages a strangled, "_with you" _and follows it with an exhale that Lando can definitely hear loudly.

"Okay," Lando says, and mentally slaps himself, because _that's an inadequate response to something of this nature_, and yet at this second he can't find anything in his brain that is remotely better. "Okay," he repeats after a moment, takes a breath, searches for words, "well...I'm okay with that." _More than okay, but let's not dive into the deep end just yet._

"Yeah?" Max asks, almost a whisper.

Lando nods, _oh, Max can't see you, idiot, _"all right, okay. When we finally don't have to stay inside and this shit is over...we'll do it." 

"Okay," Max says, and he's back to his normal voice. He sounds relieved. 

"I promise," says Lando for some reason, and he mentally slaps himself again.

But Max answers with, "Okay, good." There's a pause. "But maybe we should try it in private first."

"Absolutely," Lando agrees, feeling his heartbeat start racing again. "That would be best," he says steadily, and he's not sure how he's doing this with a straight face, because frankly he feels _so fucking nervous _and he really has to fight the urge to fall into one of his inconvenient bouts of hysterical giggles.

Max must notice the strain in his voice too, because he does what he always does and pokes at Lando by asking, "Are you all right, mate? You sound like you're trying not to laugh."

And Lando, _of fucking course, _immediately breaks down into hysterical laughter, covering his mouth with his hands and trying to breathe and calm himself.

Max is not helpful. Lando can hear him cackling equally hard on the other end of the line.

"Fucking dick," Lando gasps out, but Max only laughs harder, and as they laugh, Lando feels the tension melt away from his brain and he has a hunch it's doing the same for Max.

When they've stopped giggling, with one or two relapses on the way down, there's a comfortable silence for a few long seconds.

Lando breaks it, because that's who he is. "Okay, it's a deal then. We practice in private first."

"Deal," says Max, and his voice is serious again. 

"Good," Lando confirms, and he shifts around in his seat. "So, iracing?"

"Iracing," says Max. "No streaming?"

"No streaming," Lando agrees, loading the game. "You wanna call online so we can chat and play?"

"Yeah of course."

"Okay. I'll call you on Discord then."

"Okay," Max says, "oh, hey Lando?"

"Yes, Max?" 

"Um, loveyoubye."

**Author's Note:**

> Of course it's fictional, blah, blah. 
> 
> Thanks for any comments/kudos, and I hope you are all surviving the dearth of F1 as best as can be expected.


End file.
